Nighthawks add defenders with championship pedigree

Mike McAulay is having a busy summer. The Niverville Nighthawks are the only team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League to have a single person as their general manager, and McAulay is showing that worth, adding a pair of defensemen to make up for some veteran losses on the back-end.

Already filled with veterans of their Turnbull Cup and Centennial Cup championship runs, the team has added a pair of Minnesota High School champions to their ranks.

First, the Nighthawks acquired 2006-born defenseman Cole Bies. The East Grand Forks product played last season with the St Cloud Norsemen in the North American Hockey League.

In the 2024/2025 season, Bies suited up for his hometown East Grand Forks High School, leading them to a shocking state championship run. The fourth-seeded Green Wave defeated St Cloud Cathedral inside the Xcel Energy Centre, the home of the Minnesota Wild to hoist the banner.

On July 20, the Nighthawks announced they were sending a player development fee to Fort Francis of the Superior International Hockey League in exchange for defenseman Judd Pesch, a teammate of Bies on the Green Wave.

Pesch scored 30 points last season in 48 regular season games, picking up to 11 points in 13 games for the Lakers in the playoffs.

The duo were key figures in East Grand Forks dramatic come from behind win during the semi-finals of the state championship. Trailing 5-3 in the second period, Pesch scored a last-second goal to cut into the deficit, with Bies striking twice in the first minute of the third to flip the game.

The Green Wave would upset the top-seeded Hibbing/Chisholm with a 7-5 victory and defeat St Cloud in the finals to clinch a championship.

Later in the week, the Nighthawks added Aiden McDonald, a 2006-born forward who played last season with the Winnipeg Blues in exchange for a PDF.

The London, Ont. product scored 28 points in 43 games, ending the season sixth on the team in points as the Blues struggled to generate offense in the second half of the season.

Before joining Winnipeg, he played two seasons with his hometown London Nationals in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.